Dylan Hughes Called Up By Wales

[Ian Kennett]

Dylan Hughes has been selected to the Wales U-21 roster for an upcoming friendly. You may recall that Dylan informed me just prior to the 2005 U-20 finals that he hoped to be "scoring goals for Canada," but he was not included on Mitchell's roster for reasons presently unknown.

The Welsh association provided me with this information.

"Info i have on dylan hughes is

started off 2-3 years ago at Newcastle United but was homesick and went back to Canada.

Father comes from Bethesda, Gwynedd, North Wales (hence Wales link) and played amateur football in the Gwynedd area.

Dylan has also been out in Regensburg FC in Germany, has been selected for Wales Under 21s before about 18 month ago.

also on trial at Swansea City this week

hope this helps"

I wonder why he is no longer in the Canadian picture. Any thoughts?

Cheers!

[Free kick]

quote:Originally posted by Ian Kennett

You may recall that Dylan informed me just prior to the 2005 U-20 finals that he hoped to be "scoring goals for Canada," but he was not included on Mitchell's roster for reasons presently unknown.

I seem to recall the circumstances quite a bit differently. If I am not mistaken, this is the fellow who kept showing up at canada U20 camps but everytime he was selected to play an offical game, he would bolt for fear of getting cap-tied. Indications are that he was using the CSA to futher his own personal professional career. For example, he was selected by Mitchell on finla roster for the team that was going to the UAE in 2003 but bolted just before the first game was to be played. Thats when Mitchell probably figured out that for him to play for Canada, he would probably have to be cut by Wales.

I think that this is one wherby we can say good riddance because the last thing we need on our national programs is players who don't really want to be here or who treat our national programs as a fall back plan. Still, It would be great if you have these contacts, to get some clarification on the matter from the parties involved and keep us informed. I'd be happy to be proven wrong on this but the optics don't look right.

[Grizzly]

My memory of the situation is similar to Freekick's. Also up to now he has done absolutely nothing to warrant any worry about his decision. It is too bad another Canadian is betraying his country for a team he considers more attractive (although it is debateable whether Wales unlike England, Holland or Portugal is more attractive than Canada). On the other hand Hughes is still a borderline callup for our present U-21 team. Unlike Jonathon DeGuzman and Fernandes he has not shown any indication of developing into anything more than an average lower division player.

[An Observer]

I like the fact that even the Welsh FA says he was "homesick and went back to Canada". I would have thought that if he trully was Welsh, Newcastle would not have made him homesick.